Report of the governor general of the Philippine Islands. [1908]

REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

and large stones and which is on or near a suitable water supply
steam plowing can be carried on to good advantage and at moderate
cost.
The bureau of agriculture has had two steam plowing outfits at
work for private individuals on the Santa Rosa friar estate, where
much of the arable land is rolling or hilly and is divided into comparatively small plats by streams, ditches, hedges, and wooded
areas. Although these persons were under contract to provide dry
fuel, water, and a certain amount of labor, in nearly every instance
they failed to furnish the fuel and water promised and in not a few
cases were very dilatory about providing labor. In some places
water was difficult to obtain. Nevertheless large areas hitherto overgrown with cogon or runo grass were brought under cultivation and
the owners of the land seem well satisfied with the results. However,
the necessity of bringing in coal for fuel and of using the plowing engines as stump pullers materially increased the cost of plowing over
what it would have been had the owners provided dry wood and
properly cleared their land.
Just at the beginning of the rainy season the bureau of agriculture
secured a Hart-Parr petroleum plowing engine. This engine has
several pronounced advantages over steam plowing engines. Its
relatively light weight (19,000 pounds) facilitates its passage over
bad ground and weak bridges, and as it consumes comparatively little
power in propelling itself, a large part of the energy generated is
available for traction purposes. It can be started and stopped almost instantly, and the loss of time involved in getting up steam in
the morning and drawing fires at night is avoided. No large transportation problem is involved in keeping it supplied with fuel. It
uses very little water and, in fact, when it starts in the morning
carries kerosene and water enough for an entire day's run, so that
it can work uninterruptedly.
The engine has proved to be readily manageable and the traction
results obtained are most satisfactory. It only remains to demonstrate whether or not it will endure continuous service under the
severe conditions which prevail in these islands. The early advent
of the rainy season has prevented any conclusive answer to this question. As soon as the land dries off sufficiently to make plowing possible this engine will be put at hard and continuous work and the results noted. So far as our experiments have gone, it has proved
most satisfactory.
MAGUEY.
Interest in maguey planting continues unabated, and the bureau of
agriculture has furnished both Hawaiian and Philippine plants for
distribution in large numbers, having sent out 42,475 of the former
and 1,422,640 of the latter.
GUINEA GRASS.
Guinea grass is by far the most important plant which has recently
been introduced here. It produces an extraordinary amount of
highly nutritive fodder which is greedily eaten by horses, cattle, and
pigs. At the beginning of the calendar year 3,026 square meters of
land at the Singalong station were planted with this grass. During